It gets to a point sometimes when a season just needs to end. The Toronto Tempo are at that point. They’ve lost 19 of their last 20 games, are well out of the playoff race, are riddled with injuries, and are finishing their season on the road. It’s tough, and finishing your season against two other lottery-bound teams brings it to another level.
Tuesday night, the Tempo played the penultimate game of their season in Chicago, falling 97-85 to a Sky team that truly has nothing to lose. They are not only not making it to the playoffs, but they also don’t even own their pick for next season’s WNBA Draft – they traded it to the Washington Mystics. Tempo fans, take a bit of solace knowing it’s not as bad as it could be.
With this season nearly in the books, it’s hard not to already think about what next season could look like. The fact that the Tempo have a shot at tying the Sun for the No. 1 odds in the WNBA Draft Lottery means a great player could be joining the roster. There are also players who are already guaranteed to be returning next season – Marina Mabrey, Brittney Sykes, Julie Allemand and Kiki Rice are already inked for 2027.
“How hard are you going to compete? Who can execute scouts and play in the right way? That’s important as we’re evaluating,” head coach Sandy Brondello said after Tuesday’s loss about planning for next season.
The Tempo have also struggled with consistency all season, and that’s something Brondello would also like to address in the offseason. There always seems to be a wall the team hits in the game that they can’t recover from – whether that’s a poor start, or not coming out of the halftime break with energy.
“That kind of that’s been a story of our season. Really, doesn’t matter who’s playing and who’s not,” Brondello said. “There’s that one quarter that we don’t come out with the energy or the execution, and that hurts us.”
“I think that we need to do more if we want to win games. I think we need to be more of a team, but it’s not only about offence,” point guard Julie Allemand added. “It’s also about defence. I think that today it’s about the defence, and like coach was saying, how hard you want to compete.”
The Tempo will have one more chance to take the floor in 2026, with their final game of the season coming Thursday against the Connecticut Sun. It will be the final game in Connecticut Sun history as the team prepares to move to Houston.
“Connecticut was always the trip that I knew the fans were really going to show up because they love their Sun over there,” Tempo forward Isabelle Harrison said about playing in the Sun’s last game.
It’s an important game as both Connecticut and Toronto battle for higher odds in the Draft Lottery. If the Sun win Thursday’s game, Toronto will tie them for No. 1 odds in the lottery – if Toronto wins, they’ll have to settle for second-best odds.
